Justin Barcia in Extended Collarbone Recovery, But Plans to Race A1 on Limited Seat Time: "I'll be on the line. I plan on it"

“Yeah, I broke my collarbone the first week [riding the Ducati], so, a bit of a hiccup there. Broke the edge of my plate that was already in there, so it's a little more tricky than a normal collarbone. And I had to take the plate out, put a new plate in, move it over, so there's a lot of little holes from the screws that were there, so. Just in a waiting pattern right now obviously I've been able to start training off the dirt bike. But, yeah, it's tricky. I like to keep it extra exciting though! [Laughs] We didn't have enough excitement with the new team, the new bike, so I had to go and have a little hiccup and, yeah, it's a shame but just week by week.”

“Yeah, I mean, that's obviously the goal right now. Right now, I'm right at three weeks. Usually a collarbone [recovery] is like four weeks, but this one's going to be longer. Unfortunately, part of it. But, yeah, that's the goal, week by week right now. So, I'll probably get another X-ray here in a week or so and see what it's looking like. Will the doctors let me to get back on the bike in four weeks? Probably not. [Laughs] So, yeah, it's tricky. But I'm just training, staying fit. My fitness is good.”

“I feel like it's gonna be really close. My hope is around Christmas time I get back on my bike. But again, we'll see what the doctors say, but yeah, it'll be tricky, I plan on spending a lot of time in Florida, but I think I'll be back out here [in California] with the team, so that'll be good.”

"What's up guys? Thought it was about time for an update. Obviously, our team announcement happened, stoked to be back with the whole Troy Lee Designs Red Bull Ducati Factory racing.  Pretty amped about that. Obviously, we had media day, I'm sure everyone heard, the announcement that I did end up breaking a collarbone, yeah, only three weeks ago. So, yeah, I only had about a week or so on the bike. Things were going good, but yeah, just had a weird crash, got really lucky to only break the collarbone. So, yeah, healing process has been, yeah, doing the best I can, obviously, being cautious, letting that thing heal up. Obviously, I had a plate in there, had to take a plate out, put a new one in, so a little more tricky than usual. But, yeah, I've been working with Doctor G and, yeah, my trainer Joe out here in California. We've been doing everything we can to get this thing healed as fast as possible. I'm hoping to be back on the bike as soon as possible. The goal is obviously to be at the first race still. Yeah, will I have a lot of time on the bike if I do race? No, but I've been doing it a long time. I think I got the, the most starts, on the gate right now out of anybody still racing. So, pretty rad and yeah, I'll use my experience, and just build through the season, so everything's going good though. Working hard to get back on the bike and, just letting the body heal, but figured I, would give everyone, an update. Everyone deserves that. All my, fans have been sticking behind me, but I'm really thrilled to get going this year. Yeah, this is just a little speed bump in the road. We always push through things, so no big deal, but yeah, really, happy and proud to be back with the Troy Lee Designs crew, everyone at Red Bull, and then obviously, Factory Connection as well as Ziggy and, and all the boys. It's a bit of a home reunion with all the guys that were at GEICO that are on the team now. And obviously Ducati, how sick is that?! So, yeah, we're gonna do everything we can to be really good, get the bike working. Obviously new bike, there's gonna be lots of challenges, but I have a group around me that can, make things happen and get me comfortable. So can't wait to get back on the bike, get back to racing, and, yeah, show you guys what I got. Happy holidays.”